A Novel Experimental Setup for the Visualization of Dosing Strategy in Drinking Water Engineering

Abstract

Drinking water treatment is one of the most important processing techniques in the world, and access to clean water is recognized as a human right by the UN General Assembly. However, the sources and quality of raw water differ immensely in chemical and biological composition, which leads to different treatment strategies. Coagulation–flocculation is an important treatment step used in most water treatment facilities. In this method, the addition of multivalent cations induces flocculation of the negatively charged colloid particles (e.g., clay or humic substances). A novel experimental setup for the visualization of flocculation is introduced, and demonstrations related to two aspects of the dosing strategy of flocculants are presented. This setup complements the traditional jar test used in water management. These demonstrations aim to highlight the practical difficulties in the dosing strategies for coagulation and flocculation when water quality varies, which will benefit students of water engineering as well as students of physical or colloid chemistry.